Thursday, August 9, 2012

Legislative Update: Primary Wrap-Up

With the elections season for state offices finally kicking off this past
Tuesday with the Michigan primary colleagues were pinned against each other and
a first happened for Republicans in Michigan. Let’s review the election:

Federal

Senate:

With Senator Stabenow not having a challenger, her primary was warm up for
November. On the Republican side of the ticket, it was a different story with
four names on the ballot with three only running since Gary Glenn had dropped
out putting his support behind Clark Durant. After weeks of super pac ads
between Pete Hoekstra and Durant, many voters were happy to see primary day
come at last. Durant was only able to obtain 246,560 while Hoekstra got 398,470
votes. Randy Hekman who really was not heard from much in the campaign received
48,742 votes and Glenn who had dropped out snagged 71,614 votes. November sets
up for what should be a show down between Hoekstra and Stabenow, where it is
seen by most of Michigan's election wonks an uphill battle for Hoekstra.

House:

Let's go through the House races quick:

1st: The first district has one of the few physicians running in elections
across Michigan Dr. Dan Benishek who did not face an opponent in the primary
will face the same person he did last election, Gary McDowell, former Michigan
legislator who did not have a primary contest as well. This sets up for a
repeat of 2010.

2nd: The second featured Bill Huizenga who ran unopposed in his primary and
is looking to run unopposed in his general election, but Democrats are trying
to get the word out to write-in their hopeful for the second.

3rd: The incumbent Justin Amash did not face a primary but will be facing a
general election from Stave Pestka. Many Democrats in Michigan and beyond are
excited about Pestka and feel that they can switch this district from red to
blue in November.

4th: Current Ways and Means chairman Dave Camp will be facing Debra Wirth in
the general election in November. Both candidates did not have a primary
contest and it is very likely that Camp will continue his work in Washington
for the people of the fourth.

5th: The fifth will see another Kildee (Daniel Kildee) on the November
ballot and is expected to win handedly in that district. Jim Slezak, former
democratic Michigan House member switched parties and will have the opportunity
to face Kildee on the November ballot.

6th: The sixth sees a return to 2010 with Jack Hoogendyk facing Fred Upton
and the results did not change from 2010. Upton was successful holding off the
surge from Hoogendyk by winning the majority of precincts in the district,
including Hoogendyk's. Upton will now face a challenge from Mike O'Brien which
most are saying will not be too difficult.

7th: Tim Walberg, current member of congress, fought off his opposition Dan
Davis by just over a three to one margin. Walberg will not face Kurt Haskell
who doubled his vote totals from his opponents.

8th: Mike Rogers faced a challenge from two other candidates but was easily
elected to face Lance Enderle in the November general election.

9th: Gregory Dildilian and Don Volaric both were fighting for the right to
face Sander Levin in the November general contest. Volaric rose to the top and
now faces an even bigger challenge to beat Levin.

10th: Candice Miller found herself without a primary opponent on Tuesday
which allowed her to focus on November where she'll face Chuck Stadler who beat
Jerome Quinn on Tuesday.

11th: With the voter fraud scandal still ongoing for Thad McCotter, many
Republicans were working hard to support write-in candidate Nancy Cassis
against Kerry Bentivoli. Those efforts failed with Bentivolio leaving Cassis in
the dust at the end of the day. Bentivolio will be facing Dr. Syed Taj, an
internist and also endorsed in the primary by MDPAC. This race is set to be
another district that the Democrats would like to see turn blue.

12th: The lion of the House John Dingell will be moving on to November and
the general election facing Cynthia Kallgren who surpassed Karen Jacobson by
just over 350 votes. Dingell is expected to continue his work in Washington
after the general election.

13th: The thirteenth had a host of Democrats running trying to unseat John
Conyers but none were able to do so. Conyers won handedly and is expected to
return to DC for another term after the November election. He will face Harry
Sawicki.

14th: Two sitting members of Congress were pinned against each other in this
primary along with others but at the end of the day it was Gary Peters who
outlasted them all beating current incumbent Hansen Clarke. Peters will now
face John Hauler in the general election.

State

The only contests at the state level for the primaries were for the House.
Some races had incumbents facing each other leaving competitive primary all
around Michigan. Republicans for the first time lost an incumbent with Kurt
Damrow falling to the Tuscola county Register of Deeds Dan Grimshaw. With
Damrow involved in controversy it was not a surprise to many election watchers
that Damrow fall. Grimshaw now has a fight on his hands since he'll be facing
former Representative, Terry Brown in November.

The legislature will be one physician short come January 1, 2013 with Dr.
Jimmy Womack losing his bid for reelection from a current House colleague John
Olumba. The legislature will also be down one nurse with Lesia Liss losing in
her bid for a third term to her colleague John Switalski. Other incumbents that
lost in elections against their colleagues were Maureen Stapleton and Tim
Bledsoe.

As for local races around Lansing, current staffer to Rep. Mark Meadows,
Susan Schmidt, was taking on MDPAC endorsed and former East Lansing Mayor Sam
Singh. Singh was just too much for Schmidt leaving now Susan McGillicuddy in
his way to the State House. In the 93rd House seat with is just north of
Lansing, MDPAC endorsed Tom Leonard was able to hold off the valiant effort
from Kevin Kirk to make his way to the November general election. Leonard will
now face Paul Silva in November.

In the Upper Peninsula Ed McBroom in the 108th district has the possibility
of facing a rerun from 2010 when he ran against former House member Judy Nerat.
Nerat was not able to overtake her opponent though, Sharon Gray who won by 93
votes. Gray will now face McBroom in the general election.

With all of the controversy some were speculating that Roy Schmidt after
changing parties would not be able to make it out of the primary. Many
Republicans in the area were working hard to get Bing Goei, candidate against
Schmidt in 2010 to run a write-in campaign against Schmidt. Goei did fall
short. Schmidt will now face Winnie Brinks, a write-in candidate who did
receive enough votes to be considered for the November general election.